


He's Outwardly Respectable

by Anorlost



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Oneshot, Rescue, Roommates, no millicents were harmed in the writing of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6736348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anorlost/pseuds/Anorlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hux...is that a cat?"  </p><p>"Yep."  </p><p>Kylo's narc roommate takes a level in badass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He's Outwardly Respectable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fangrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangrl/gifts).



> Hooooooo! I didn't think I could write it in time, but I did! It's unbetaed and might be a bit sloppy, but I hope you like it Fangrl!

“Hux…is that a cat?”

Normally Kylo would not have been one for sticking to the rules. He viewed them more so as guidelines, especially the ones that had nothing to do with personal safety. For example, he would never leave a bunch of knives at the bottom of a staircase he had covered in lard, but keeping some booze and shot glasses in his room was fine, no matter what the dons on his floor said. As far as Kylo was concerned, so long as whatever he did was in the privacy of his own room and he was not hurting anyone, he could do as he pleased.

So he was not sure if it would be hypocritical to call Hux out or not. His dorm-mate had, admittedly, put up with a lot of his bullshit over the course of the last few months. Despite the masking tape that divided the room, Kylo’s things, especially dirty clothes, tended to migrate to Hux’s neat and pristine territory.

“Yep,” said Hux, sitting on his bed, a purring ball of orange fluff draped across his lap.

Kylo furrowed his brow and pointed incredulously at the animal in Hux’s lap, “Are you allowed to have a cat?”

Not that he really minded, of course, having a cat around could be fun, but there were issues. Kylo was not allergic, but he did not want to be in such a small area with a litter box stinking up the place. Not to mention what sort of damage a stir crazed cat would do once it got bored with living in a tiny room under lock and key. Kylo already knew he was going to pay a ridiculous amount to cover damages to the dorm room – he maintained it was not his fault plaster walls were so easy to punch a fist through – and he did not want to add a cat scratching up furniture or coughing up hairballs onto carpets on top of that.

“She’s a therapy animal,” said Hux dryly.

Kylo’s brow shot up at that, “A therapy animal?”

“Not yet, but I’ll have her registered as one,” his roommate replied flippantly, stroking the cat in his lap.

“Do you even need a therapy animal?” asked Kylo.

Hux responded by picking up his briefcase, because of course we would carry a briefcase instead of a backpack. He clicked the tabs open with one hand while stroking the cat with the other. The briefcase snapped open and Hux turned it so Kylo could look inside. In addition to Hux’s books, notes and tablet, there was a collection of telltale orange prescription bottles. Hux snapped it shut, “I think I can make a convincing case.”

“Where did you even get a cat?” Kylo continued, sitting down on his messy bed and looking at Hux incredulously. Hux was usually his opposite in every way, including their views on rule breaking. They had an agreement that if Kylo would take all responsibility for any rules he broke in their room. Normally Hux would silently glower whenever Kylo poured himself a shot of vodka, or scratched a picture of a dick into the soft wood of the bedframe, or flipped through a copy of the Anarchist’s Cookbook. Hux followed all the rules. All of them. Even the stupid ones. It was only a couple months into their first semester, but Hux already had a reputation in the dorms as a hard-ass.

“Parking lot,” replied Hux curtly.

“Parking lot,” repeated Kylo.

“Yep.”

Kylo looked Hux and the cat over. His major was art with a minor in art history, so he was no detective by any stretch of the imagination, but something was very clearly wrong about this whole thing. Hux had broken the rules. He was replying in short, clipped sentences as opposed to his usual meandering lectures. As he patted the cat Kylo noticed a bandage under the cuff of his white dress shirt.

“Did she scratch you?” asked Kylo.

“A bit,” admitted Hux.

Kylo crossed his legs, food wrappers crinkling underneath him as a pile of dirty clothes tumbled off the bed. The cat’s head snapped up and it’s purring quieted as it looked towards where the sudden sounds had come from. That was when Kylo noticed something a little off about her ear…

“Someone hurt her.”

Hux’s face immediately darkened and he spoke in a terrifyingly even and polite way, “The issue has been resolved. I took care of it.”

Kylo stared at Hux incredulously, “You…you got into a fight…”

“I don’t like people, they can all die in a heap as far as I’m concerned,” said Hux casually. As he stroked the cat, which was once again sleepily settling into his lap, his expression softened, “But I don’t like it when animals get hurt. Go ahead and laugh, I know you want to. The cold hearted narc has a soft spot for kitties.”

“No, it’s not that it’s…” Kylo trailed off, sounding impressed, “You’re this skinny little beanpole who got in a fight and only got a scratch from the cat he rescued. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Millicent,” said Hux, “I’m calling her Millicent.”

“Millicent…” said Kylo, wrinkling his nose. He really should not have expected Hux to go for something like ‘Mittens’ or ‘Fluffy’ but, Millicent? Like some old lady who was eight days older than god and barking at kids to get off her lawn?

“Because she’s a girl, if she was a boy I would have called her Macavity, like the T.S. Elliot poem,” explained Hux haughtily, “And I’m not going to ask your permission to keep her. If you can’t tolerate my therapy animal than I’m sure the residence staff will find me someone who can. Or perhaps I’ll get a single dorm like I wanted in the first place.”

“No way, I want you to keep her,” said Kylo, grinning wildly, “I mean, Hux, you just gained a level in badass! You got in a fight, saved a cat, snuck her in here, and now you’re going to work the system to keep her…that’s…it’s like you’re a completely different person and it’s the best thing ever!”

“I-It is not the best thing ever!” snapped Hux, red in the face from anger.

“Kind of is. Oh man, you have so lost the moral high ground,” teased Kylo. He dug his phone out from under a pair of possibly clean underpants and took a picture, “This is so going on my tumblr…we are going to be such great roommates now that we’re both rule-breakers.”

“There is no ‘we,’” said Hux urgently, “This was a onetime thing, done out of necessity. The shelters here are overcrowded and I wouldn’t even be in this mess if those morons from the football team hadn’t-”

“You took on the football team!?” exclaimed Kylo.

“Only two of them…and they were unarmed…and I had a…it’s not important,” muttered Hux, “Though I suppose I’ll have to watch out for when their teammates want revenge…”

“Oh man, oh man, this is too good,” said Kylo giddily.

He picked himself up and strode brazenly into Hux’s space despite the philosophy major’s repeated, heated protests of, ‘You’re on my side, you idiot, my side!’ Kylo dropped himself on Hux’s bed and scratched Millicent under her chin. She looked up at him through slanted, sleepy eyes before closing them again. Kylo could barely contain his glee, “My narc roommate beat up the football team. This is just too great. Don’t worry about them, me and the guys will keep them off your back. Now that you’re finally cool, you can hang with us.”

“Breaking the rules is not cool and I don’t want to join your boy band!” hissed Hux quietly, “Stop that you’ll wake her!”

“Naw, she likes it, don’t you kitty. We’re going to take good care of you,” cooed Kylo. He moved his hand to pat Millicent’s head, his fingers occasionally brushing Hux’s, “You turned out to be a lot nicer than I thought you would be.”

Hux sighed, “You’re exactly as immature as I thought you would be, you petulant man-child.”


End file.
